Here It Is: The Browser Ballot Screen

Microsoft this week revealed the final design of its browser ballot screen (or "choice screen") for Windows XP, Vista, and 7, which will begin appearing in EU-based versions of those products over the next few weeks.

Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will begin offering a 'web browser choice screen' to Internet Explorer users in Europe, as required by the European Commission.

Internal testing of the choice screen is underway now. We'll begin a limited rollout externally next week, and expect that a full scale rollout will begin around 1 March, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.

Microsoft agreed to use Windows Update to provide a browser choice screen to Windows users in Europe who are running Internet Explorer as their default browser.

This browser choice screen will present a list of browsers, with links to learn more about them and install them. The design and operation of this choice screen was worked out in the course of extensive discussions with the European Commission and is reflected in the commitment that Microsoft made.

Users who get the choice screen will be free to choose any browser or stick with the browser they have, as they prefer.